Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith, state director of Assemblies of God McAtee tell congregation to ignore Peternel sex abuse reports
Head of powerful Life Church pried teens about sex in graphic detail, Peternel son facing four felony counts of child pornography
Indiana’s second-in-command to the governor and the head of the state’s largest Pentecostal denomination told the congregants of one of the state’s largest and most powerful Pentecostal churches to ignore weeks of reports of sex abuse and a criminal case, in a pair of back-to-back sermons Sunday.
The head of Indiana’s Life Church, Nathan Peternel, pressured teenagers to talk about their sex lives with him and regularly talked about his sex life with them, over the past three decades, according to a series of reports from 24sight News. Survivors of the abuse began telling their stories three weeks ago, after Peternel’s 24-year-old son was arrested on four felony counts of owning and distributing child pornography. Police also discovered more than 50 videos of Peternel and his wife having sex or naked on their son’s cellphone.
The growing scandal has rocked the church that doubles as Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s political operation for weeks now. Peternel has refused to answer repeated requests for an interview with 24sight News or answer detailed questions. Church staff working for Peternel have said that Peternel has retained a lawyer, but refused to provide the name of the lawyer.
But Beckwith, who serves as the head pastor of Peternel’s Noblesville campus and the state superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Chad McAtee, appeared to address the revelations of abuse for the first time Sunday by telling churchgoers that “the enemy” is spreading “lies.”
Beckwith, through a state spokesperson, declined an interview request. The same state spokesman also said any questions about the lieutenant governor’s sermons should be directed to the church. A voicemail left at the Noblesville church Beckwith leads was not returned Monday.
McAtee told the congregation that Peternel is a “man of integrity” and preached the story of Jesus walking on water, in which his apostles question him, and said that weathering a storm is like rowing in a boat with people rowing in different directions: churchgoers should stop asking questions and listen to their leaders.
“Someone has to lead,” McAtee said. “We can’t gossip, we can’t complain.”
Beckwith is facing his own criminal investigation for staff who watched a deepfake porn of a state lawmaker’s wife in his office and possible “ghost employment” — being paid for not doing work, or running a political campaign with state resources. Beckwith has repeatedly said a 24-hour investigation he conducted found no evidence
Calls for comment to the Indiana Assemblies of God district office and the National Assemblies of God headquarters were not immediately returned Monday.
One Indiana woman, Paige, told 24sight News that when she was 17 years old, Peternel demanded she and her 19-year-old fiancé tell him about their sex lives in graphic detail. After the incident was reported to other Life Church pastors, they confronted Peternel and chastised him for hiding a marital counseling session from them and being alone with an underage teen without other adult supervision, one former church member familiar with the incident told 24sight News.
Multiple members of Peternel’s first youth group, which he named “Stormfront” despite protests that it clearly bore the same name as a neo-Nazi group from Florida, described regular meetings with Peternel in the late ‘90s and early ’00s in which he would pressure them and children to discuss who they were having sex with. They also recounted Peternel regularly talking about having sex with his wife and about an incident that happened to her in college which, he said, was because she had dressed too promiscuously.
Life Church catapulted to prominence in 2020 during the pandemic when Peternel hired Beckwith, who had just lost a race for Congress, to lead its Noblesville campus. Since then, Beckwith and Peternel built it into a hub of political activity, regularly hosting campaign events there and using the church as headquarters for Beckwith’s successful run for lieutenant governor last year.
The church saw a massive influx of new attendees during the pandemic lockdowns from activists angry at then-Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s lockdown orders and Covid-vaccine requirements. Beckwith used the church to approved thousands of vaccine waivers under the state’s religious exemption waiver.
But in the years since, many of those new churchgoers have left, often expressing surprising at having discovered that Life Church was a Pentecostal church — often associated with extreme religious dogma and a very intensive focus on church members’ private lives.
Beckwith seemed to address that surprise among some Sunday.
“If you didn’t know this, we are an Assemblies of God church” Beckwith said Sunday. “We’re not crazy, we’re passionate. We call ourselves responsible Pentecostals.”
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The “Jesus, Sex and Politics” investigation:
Beckwith adviser was with son in September when police executed warrant in child porn case - 10/24/25
Beckwith adviser Peternel responds to son’s child porn charges in Sunday video - 10/26/25
AUDIO: Nathan Peternel church message on sex videos, son’s arrest - 10/31/25
Peternel pried teen girl about sex life in closed-door ‘counseling’, woman says - 11/6/25
Beckwith adviser’s son gets public defender as church scandal grows - 11/10/25
Indiana deepfake porn scandal stories:
Topless deepfake video roils Indiana office, lawmaker’s wife targeted, per sources - 8/2/25
Indy prosecutor probes topless deepfake, Haggard blasts ‘pornographic smear’ of his wife - 8/5/25
BREAKING: Lt. Gov. spokesman quits amid deepfake probe - 8/7/25
Lawmaker whose wife was targeted launching Congressional bid - 8/11/25
Lt. Gov.’s office adopts new employee handbook, Gov. calls in Beckwith for meeting - 8/14/25
The church office is closed on Monday, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response.
This shit never ENDS!!! For a minute I thought I was about to read another one from my bloody state